Dinosaur discovery helps solve piece of evolutionary puzzle
Thursday, January 28, 2010 - 14:14
in Paleontology & Archaeology
A George Washington University expedition to the Gobi Desert of China has enabled researchers to solve the puzzle of how one group of dinosaurs came to look like birds independent of birds. The discovery extends the fossil record of the family Alvarezsauridae - a bizarre group of bird-like dinosaurs with a large claw on the hand and very short, powerful arms - back 63 million years, further distancing the group from birds on the evolutionary tree.